Staffing Recruiter Overtime Pay Lawsuits: FLSA Exemption?
Last Updated on February 25, 2026
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Anyone who worked as a recruiter, technical recruiter, talent specialist, sourcer or in a similar role for a staffing firm or recruiting agency and did not receive overtime.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe some recruiting and staffing agencies could be violating federal labor law by failing to pay recruiters overtime wages. They’re now looking into whether lawsuits can be filed on behalf of affected workers.
- How Could an Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Help?
- A lawsuit could help recruiters recover any unpaid wages they could be owed and potentially force their employer to change its pay practices.
- What You Can Do
- If you were paid a salary while working as a recruiter, technical recruiter, talent specialist, sourcer or in a similar role for a recruiting or staffing firm and regularly worked more than 40 hours per week without overtime pay, fill out the form on this page to get in touch.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are looking into whether lawsuits can be filed on behalf of recruiters who were not paid overtime wages.
Specifically, they believe some staffing firms and recruiting agencies may have violated a federal labor law by misclassifying recruiters as exempt from overtime. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), most workers are entitled to receive time-and-a-half wages for all hours worked over 40 per week, with limited exceptions. According to the attorneys, staffing recruiters may not qualify for any FLSA exemption, meaning they would be entitled to overtime pay even if they are paid a salary.
If you regularly worked more than 40 hours per week as a recruiter, technical recruiter, talent specialist, sourcer or in a similar role at a recruiting or staffing agency without overtime pay, you may be able to help get a class action lawsuit started on behalf of yourself and other affected workers. Fill out the form on this page to learn more.
Are Recruiters Entitled to Overtime Pay?
The attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe recruiters may be entitled to overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Most employees in the United States are covered by the FLSA, which states that workers must receive at least one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week.
Importantly, the FLSA’s overtime requirements may still apply even if a recruiter receives a salary instead of an hourly rate. For salaried recruiters, overtime rates would be calculated by dividing the recruiter’s pay for the workweek by the number of hours they worked. The result would be the recruiter’s hourly rate, which is then multiplied by 1.5 to determine their overtime rate.
The FLSA does have certain exemptions from its overtime requirements, but there is no specific FLSA recruiter exemption. In order for an employer to properly classify its employees as exempt from overtime, they must meet strict criteria.
For example, the following requirements must be met for an employee to qualify for the FLSA’s administrative exemption:
- The employee must be paid a salary above a certain minimum level as defined by the FLSA;
- The employee’s main duties must involve performing office or non-manual work directly related to assisting with the running or management of the employer’s or its customers’ business; and
- The employee’s main duties must require exercising discretion and independent judgment with respect to significant matters.
In this case, the attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe recruiters, talent specialists and other similarly titled workers at staffing and recruiting firms may not qualify for the FLSA administrative exemption or any of the law’s other exemptions and should therefore be paid overtime wages.
Staffing Recruiter Overtime Pay Lawsuit
A recruiter overtime lawsuit filed in April 2021 claimed a recruiting agency misclassified its recruiters as exempt from overtime wages. Though the workers were paid a salary, they did not receive time-and-a-half wages for hours worked over 40 each week, the lawsuit alleged.
According to the unpaid overtime lawsuit, recruiters should not have been classified as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements given they did not have authority to hire and fire workers, did not supervise two or more employees, and did not exercise independent judgment and discretion concerning “matters of significance.”
A settlement was reached in the recruiter overtime lawsuit in August 2022, with the recruiting agency agreeing to pay $950,000 to resolve the case. Recruiters covered by the settlement received payments based on their work history, including how much they made and how many weeks they worked during the relevant period.
How Could a Recruiter Overtime Lawsuit Help?
If filed and successful, a lawsuit could help recruiters recover any unpaid wages they may be owed. It could also force their employer to implement changes to its pay practices to ensure that workers are properly paid in the future.
Are You Owed Unpaid Wages? Take Action
If you worked as a recruiter, technical recruiter, talent specialist, sourcer or in a similarly titled position for a recruiting or staffing firm, were paid a salary, and regularly worked more than 40 hours per week without overtime pay, fill out the form on this page.
After you get in touch, an attorney or legal representative may reach out to you directly to ask you some questions about your experience and explain how you may be able to help get a lawsuit started. It doesn’t cost anything to fill out the form or speak with someone, and you’re not obligated to take legal action if you decide you don’t want to.
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